Those documents say in March 2016 Papadopoulos said he could facilitate a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sessions was in attendance when Papadopoulos pitched that idea but told lawmakers Tuesday that he'd previously forgotten about that 2016 meeting.

"I have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting. ... To the best of my recollection, I believe that I wanted to make clear to him that he was not authorized to represent the campaign with the Russian government, or any other foreign government, for that matter," Sessions said.

When later grilled by Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Sessions said he didn't recall if Trump or anyone else in that March 2016 meeting reacted in any way to Papadopoulos' proposal.